Boccard Point

Dogs Leashed

Features Fall Colors · Spring · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

This is a pleasant out-and-back hike on a very mellow stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail and an old road recently restored as a trail. The hike takes you out to Boccard Point, a rocky outcrop with expansive views in many directions, including the remote regions of the Soda Mountain Wilderness to the south, the Shasta Valley and Mount Shasta further south, and Mount Ashland and the Siskiyou Crest to the west. On a clear, sunny day, this is one of the nicest, easiest hikes in this wilderness.

This hike starts (and returns to) the Hobart Bluff Trailhead. To reach this trailhead, take exit 14 from Interstate-5 and head east on Highway 66 for 15 miles. At Green Springs Summit, turn right onto Soda Mountain Road (BLM Road 39-3E-32.3) and drive 3.8 miles to a gravel parking lot and pit toilet where the crosses under a power line and over the PCT.

Park here and follow the PCT south for just under 3 miles to where it comes adjacent to a gravel road (Baldy Creek Road). From here, turn east on to the Boccard Point Trail and head eastward and slightly uphill along what was obviously once an old road. The old road meanders around a gentle slope and through the forested headwaters of the Dutch Oven Creek drainage. After about 1.8 miles, the old road ends and from there you follow an obvious (well-used) use trail southeast for about a quarter mile to the famous rocky outcrop known as Boccard Point.

The near-panoramic views from the Point offers glimpses of three mountain ranges. To the southwest rise the ancient Klamaths adjacent to Mount Shasta. To the west is Pilot Rock, the Siskiyous, and Mount Ashland (look for the white radar dome on its summit), and to the north continue the Cascades. Spread-out below you is the Soda Mountain Wilderness, and there are few places other than here to catch a good glimpse of its remote drainages.

In the spring, wildflowers emerge all along the old road/trail out to the point. At the point, a plethora of flowers press their stems and petals out from the rock, giving it some color. Also in the spring you can hear a lot of birds enjoying a short detour from the nearby Klamath flyway—everything from rock wrens to hermit warblers to lazuli buntings.

Point 5900 was named after the American biologist and environmentalist Bruce Boccard. Boccard Point was his favorite spot on the mountain, a place he called "Juniper Ridge". In 1997, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved naming the point in his honor. Some maps show to Point 5900 as Boccard Point, but, locally, the rocky outcrop at the end of the ridge running south from Point 5900 is known as Boccard Point. There are no views from Point 5900.